30 hours of growth startups

150+ entrepreneurs attending

30+ speakers participating

Damascus - 24 September 2017

What is EK conference?

Entrepreneur knowledge conference is aiming to fulfill the need of skulled, competent and knowledgeable entrepreneurs in Syria. The Conference program is specially tailored scientific content designed for the Syrian entrepreneur, combining recent global trends with regional and local practices.
Back in EK Conference 2014 & 2015, we managed to host more than 30 high impact speakers from all over the world, representing international and regional companies like Microsoft, Linkedin, Slush, Quantum Leap, Edward Jones, Fi Tech, Altcity and many others. With 150+ entrepreneurs attended from all over Syria.

This session is about discussing how social media is used to drive sales and audience engagement, how entrepreneurs should use social media to communicate their messages in a way that adds value to the business baseline, along with tips and recommendations in doing so.

This session is about explaining how and why should startups legalize their businesses in Syria, the practical legal implementation of mergers and acquisitions in Syria, how to transfer equity ownership of limited companies.

EK Speakers

Founder of Sawari Ventures

Ahmed El-Alfi

Founder of Sawari Ventures

Ahmed El Alfi has been an early stage/growth investor for over 25 years.
El Alfi founded Hybrid Capital Partners in 1990, a private investment partnership. Hybrid Capital funded, helped grow and exited several successful companies. Since 2010 he founded Sawari Ventures, FLat6Labs, Nafham, and TATP. Sawari Ventures is a Cairo based VC firm that aims to help transform MENA region economies through funding high growth technology based companies. In 2011, Sawari Ventures created Flat6Labs which has grown to become MENA's leading startup accelerator, with programs in Cairo, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, Tunis, and Beirut. With over 100 companies formed, seeded and graduated to date.
Nafham is the top Arabic online video educational platform covering the Egyptian, Saudi, Syrian, Kuwaiti and Algerian public school curriculums, Nafham has given over 65 million free lessons to over 500,000 students. TATP, established in 2013, took over half of the American University in Cairo's Tahrir Square campus to form the GrEEK Campus; a 25,000 square meter office park where over 130 startups now work and collaborate. In addition to Sawari Ventures' and Flat6Labs’ investments, his US portfolio includes Triporati, an online travel company; Pacific Toxicology, a drug testing laboratory and Zignal Labs a big data analysis company.

President at VA Angels International

Luke Krueger

President at VA Angels International

Luke is the President and co-founder of The Seed Global, an organization that runs multiple funds aimed at high growth startups in emerging markets. He is passionate about supporting entrepreneurs in new startup communities after spending time working at the Grameen Bank for 2006 Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus. Luke and the Seed Global actively work with entrepreneurs alongside the World Bank, US Aid, The Canadian Government on projects to help promote Angel Investing as an asset class and helping companies to learn how to raise money. Luke is also personally active as an Angel Investor, board member and advisor to a number of startups in Canada and a 3 time entrepreneur.

Researcher in Behavior Economics

Fadi Amroush

Researcher in Behavior Economics

Fadi Amroush is an Entrepreneur, Freelancer, and Researcher in Behavior Economic. He came
from a computer science background and then moved into the behavioral economics field. He holds
a Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s degree in Informatics Engineering from the University of
Aleppo, Syria. Afterward, Dr. Amroush completed a Master’s Degree and a Ph.D. in Economics
from the University of Granada, Spain. He is currently the co-founder of Afkar Plus, a social
business incubator.

JCI Syria 2017 National President

Mohamad Shabarek

JCI Syria 2017 National President

As one of the founding members of JCI Syria, Muhamad has been elected as the 2017 National President for JCI Syria empowering young people to create positive change and believing that #YOUthCanDo.
Professionally, he is a senior expert on Socio-Economic Development for various international organisations with focus to Euro-Mediterranean region, Research Fellow at the Centre for Syrian Studies – St. Andrews University, Master Trainer, Chevening Alumnus, motivational speaker and a coach for many start-ups and social Initiatives.
Muhamad has more than 10 years working with the third sector on development projects and empowering cooperation between the EU and Mediterranean region. He holds a degree in Economics, PGD in European Studies and an MSc in Governance and Policy with focus Post-conflict governance and alternatives for Syria; and speaks fluently English, German, Italian, Arabic and some French. During the Last 6 years he implemented 5 projects inside Syria on empowering Local communities, capacity building to third sector and early recovery. He supported tens of business entrepreneurship programmes as a trainer, coach and mentor, judge and a member of the selection/jury committee.

Founder of Eniverse

Mohammad Johmani

Founder of Eniverse

Mohammed Johmani is a Serial Entrepreneur. A multi-talented, ambitious and passionate about
entrepreneurship, professional at juggling the demands of managing six different businesses: O2,
Belong Interactive, Eniverse Technologies, Cary, Plotos and Space Autonomous Drones while
planning for regional expansion and global reach.
Johmani holds MBA in Business Administration at the University of Strathclyde.
Started his academic career at the Sydney University of Technology. Johmani is a
Chartered Marketer, holding professional postgraduate marketing diplomas from the
Chartered Institute of Marketing, the global champion of best market practice.
A rising star, Johmani began his career at the age 8 when he start his first venture in
street retail in his little village, in 1994 he bought his first computer to start his first
real job as designer at a small printing press in Syria, then Johmani moved in 1998 to
Dubai and worked as an Art Director; he readily progressed to become a Marketing
Consultant, and then, the key Account Director at a local advertising agency.
In his 25th birthday 4th December 2005 he established O2 in Dubai, followed by Eniverse
Technologies, then co-founded Belong Interactive, Cary, Plotos and Space Autonomous Drones with
a clear vision to establish a home-grown conglomerate that will become a leading global player
competing with global tycoons!
Johmani is a member of the Young Arab Leaders and the Middle East Public Relations Association,
the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the US Chamber of Commerce in Bahrain, and a member of the
GCC CIM steering committee. Johmani has lectured at several universities across the region,
featured as the keynote speaker addressing various marketing issues

Coaching Expert

Christina Kashar

Coaching Expert

Coaching expert certified in executive coaching & capacity building, in addition to developing managerial skills. The 1st "Motivational Speaker" in Syria. A National Accredited Trainer from the Ministry of Administrative Development in Syria.
Trained & motivated over 125 companies, ministries, Int’l organizations, and business leaders in the Syrian market. Lectured "Personal Development Skills" for 2 years at Damascus University.
Rewarded 3 international "Creativity in Business - Thinking Out of the Box" in Austria / Tunisia / Egypt, and was chosen by Al-Iqtissadi Syrian Magazine among the 60 Syrian Iron Women for 2011.
The 1st Arab to be mentioned on Blue Ocean Strategy success stories website, along with Anthony Robbins and others (link mentioned below).
Also, honored in 2013 by the President of Damascus University and The Syria Trust for Development – Business Clinic for her volunteering efforts in developing Syrian youths, and by many more sides. Launched her Motivational Radio Show "We Can With Christina" on Melody FM for 3 months in 2017, and preparing for Season 2.
You can access the detailed C.V. via http://www.linkedin.com/in/christinakashar
Follow news via the official Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/coachchristinakashar
Check video clips via YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzdTnZbCz7fDpM6FcgDClcQ
Blue Ocean Strategy success stories links blueoceanstrategy.com/community/blue-ocean-stories www.blueoceanstrategy.com/community/blue-ocean-stories/christina-kashar

Sof. Eng. at Apple. Cofounder at LiBeiroot

Amr Kahhaleh

Sof. Eng. at Apple. Cofounder at LiBeiroot

I grew up in Damascus Syria until I finished High school. I moved to California for college and graduated with a B.S. in Computer Engineering from UC San Diego.
I interned for two summers at Apple Inc. and now work as a full time Software Engineer at the Mobile Devices Product Integrity team.
I co-founded LiBeiroot in early 2017 and now run its development, social media, marketing and Design.

CEO & Founder at Tamkeen

Sami Alsyouri

CEO & Founder at Tamkeen

I worked ten years in creating and managing development projects. I participated in: the creation of readers club and managed it, the executive management in samsa association for medical conferences and Syrian association to prevent smoking and then I created several projects to recycle paper.
I helped to provide relief items for refugees from the Iraq war and internally displaced people from rural Damascus. then I worked with "the Syrian association to support development" to create a dispensary for charity.
I have been a co founder of "Brush" then I have found "Tamkeen platform " which aims to support Syrian young people to have good training in many fields, and I had won the second prize for social business in JUSOOR Entrepreneurship Competition.
I am working as a manager of small projects section of "AL BARKA" association to help affected families to advance in their lives again.
I got a diploma in management and another one in marketing, and right now perusing my MBA In HIBA.

Techstars MEA Regional Manager & Jusoor Managing D

Ahmad Sufian Bayram

Techstars MEA Regional Manager & Jusoor Managing D

Techstars MEA Regional Manager & Jusoor Managing Director Ahmad is a social entrepreneur and collaborative economy expert.
He works as Middle East and Africa regional manager at Techstars, a worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed with a portfolio of over 1,100 companies and a total market cap of $80B, Techstars operates in 150 countries with a variety of programs including Startup Weekend and Startup Week.
Ahmad is Entrepreneurs in Residence at Aliqtsadi, and board of advisor Techfugees. he mentored several startups and non-profit organizations.

Marketing professor & Director of Professional Dev

Jéhad Yacoub

Marketing professor & Director of Professional Dev

Dr. Jehad is a professor, and the Director of Career and Professional Development at the "Arab International University AIU”
The representative and country director of Stars Orbit Consultants and Management Development in Syria, as well as a national international consultant for many United Nations organizations like (UNDP ,UNFPA, UNICEF ,UNESCO ,IOM,) Europian Union Première Urgence and SARC.
Formerly he was the Regional Program officer at UNDP Regional Programme in the Arab States / monitoring and evaluation officer at UNDP Syria and Programme officer at UN Volunteers. For more than 16 years
A Specialist in academic teaching and instructing in both private and governmental Universities,as well as cultural and training centers in local and regional areas teaching many subjects especially in Project management, Result Based management, Management by Objectives, Risk management, Crisis Management, Sales and Marketing Management, Marketing Strategy, Brand Management, Organizational Behavior, working with and leading people, Managing Business activities for achieving results, Business Strategy, Business Environment Management, and Customer Relationship Management. Capacity building expert and training of government and NGOs staff on Monitoring and Evaluation, governance, result frame work and management. Overall support and build and develop the capacity of NGOs and CSOs.
Noticed contribution in the establishment and development of many NGOs and initiatives and voluntary teams especially in the fields of training, society, and business solutions.
Dr. Jehad holds a PhD. in Marketing from the University of Wyoming-USA, a Master’s Degree in Business Management from the University of London, and a BSc in Pharmacy from the Applied Science University.

CEO-Founder at Tradinos

Malek Al-Mozayen

CEO-Founder at Tradinos

Malek is the CO-FOUNDER at BEE ORDER and DIRECTOR IN CHARGE at TRADINOS UG.
TRADINOS: design and build creative apps that gives entrepreneurs, businesses, and brands an edgy advantage. It’s headquarter in Berlin, Germany while our esteemed team work from Damascus. it’s more than designing something that looks good or developing a product that is ok. Its want to enrich lives, positively shape behaviors, and foster technology usage. keep it simple! Simple and intuitive interfaces insure outstanding user experience. Simple does not mean boring. It simply means: Peace of Mind. Involvement Attitude: We don’t just develop products, we build long term partnership with our client.

Cofounder of Sharqi.shop & LeAreej.com

Saleem Najjar

Cofounder of Sharqi.shop & LeAreej.com

Saleem has 5 years experience in building and managing eCommerce projects.
He's is the Co-founder of Sharqi Shop, the online platform that enables artisans in Jordan and Syria to sell their items online.
Saleem manages the enterprise eCommerce project at Mobily WS, in Saudi Arabia.
He is also consultant at World Bank Group, for projects that support Syrian and Jordanian entrepreneurs

Lawyer & Managing Partner of Al Jayoush law firm

Malek Al Jayoush

Lawyer & Managing Partner of Al Jayoush law firm

Malek is a lawyer & managing partner of Al Jayoush law firm.
He has graduated in 2003 from Al Ahlia Amman University, Jordan.
He joined Damascus Bar Association in 2004 as a trainee lawyer, and he became independent lawyer in 2005.
In 2006 he joined Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK to study master of international and European Business Law, and he graduated in 2007 with dissertation topic “comparison between the Syrian Arbitration law and UNICTRAL Arbitration rules.
He became a managing partner at Al Jayoush law firm (www.jayoushlaw.com) in 2008 and he founded companya2z.com (for set up companies) in 2010 which’s covering the Middle East in its business.
He’s a legal consultant for many foreign companies, international entities and diplomatic organizations as well as he represent many businessmen, financial, Oil & Gas companies and Banks.
He’s registered Arbitrator in many Arbitration Centers as Cairo Arbitration Center, Doha Arbitration Center, and Manama Arbitration Center.
He’s the legal affairs consultant of MTN Syria, one of the famous telecommunication company works worldwide and has more than 23 operators in many regions.
Malek has more than 28 published articles in various fields as commercial laws, telecommunication law, banking and finance law, human rights, child rights, and Islamic finance.

Executive director and founder of Shamra

Shadi Saleh

Executive director and founder of Shamra

Shadi Saleh is studying Ph.D. in Information retrieval systems at Charles university in Prague. He established Business Intelligence company in Syria and Prime Technologies in Prague. He is managing these two companies to do outsourcing from Syria to Europe. He also founded Shamra, the Syrian search engine in 2015. Shadi is focusing on the employment of AI and big data analysis in defining and refining customer segmentation.

Co-founder/CTO/COO at Carbon Mobile

Firas Khalifeh

Co-founder/CTO/COO at Carbon Mobile

Firas is a computer scientist and entrepreneur who loves to make art out of technology.
Best known for Carbon Mobile. where he co-founded the company that created Carbon Smartphone, the world's thinnest, lightest, strongest smartphone ever made. He was always inspired by space and the space industry on how they make things!. This where Carbon was born. To bring composites materials to the electronics industry. To have a more sustainable solution, and save earth from land-fielded plastic and the dangerous aluminum.
Since Carbon started, Firas has faced skeptical feedback labeling the project as “unrealistic & far-fetched”, but Firas’s ambition, hard work & solid belief in his dream pushed him to work harder till the dream became a tangible reality.
He always pushed toward the future, and what kind of technologies we will use by then. He created projects in VR/AR/MR, projection mapping, drones, robotics. Led him to get experience creating prototypes and products for governments and enterprises.
Aside from Carbon mobile, Firas’s previous projects have won international awards. Earlier this year, his work on the ‘Virtual Mall’ was awarded ‘Best E-commerce Project’ during Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona. This project was one of its kind as it was launched in Dubai last year & now it’s expected to be implemented across the Middle East and Europe.

Founder at Nifty Store & Aljomhoria e-newspaper

Abd Elkareem Hmedan

Founder at Nifty Store & Aljomhoria e-newspaper

Abd elkareem is Entrepreneur and Human Resources Management specialist
He majored in Human Resources Management from Higher Institute of Business Administration.
He Founded Nifty Store, Aljomhoria e-newspaper, ZEMA PCS Company and also he is a professional freelance trainer who worked for several international and local organizations.

Cofounder & CTO at Mujeeb

Iyad ALshami

Cofounder & CTO at Mujeeb

I received an undergraduate degree (2016) in Computer Science from Damascus University.
I have worked on many machine learning problems and had been an ML researcher in Akeed Online start-up.
I am currently the CTO and ML researcher in Mujeeb startup focusing on Natural Language Processing.

Managing partner and Co-Founder at BeeORDER

Hadi Nahas

Managing partner and Co-Founder at BeeORDER

Hadi is the managing partner and co-founder of BeeOrder, the first food ordering platform in Syria. The app was officially launched in September 2016 and has been gaining traction ever since. Hadi is a tech savvy who joins technological skills with business knowledge which he has gained from working at his family business since 2009. In 2013, he co-founded an accounting firm in Iraq. Hadi holds a BA in International Economics from the American University of Paris.

Founder at Glean

Yaman Aboujaib

Founder at Glean

Ever since he was a little boy, Yaman had always been curious about how everything around him functioned. This interest grew into passion, and this curious little boy grew into an Electrical Power Engineer.
He graduated from Damascus University, Faculty of Engineering, Major emphasis on Renewable Energy.Yaman’s first big step in his success journey occurred when he was selected as the winner of Stars Of Science 2015 competition with his famous invention of Glean water & energy efficient washing machine.
Yaman had always been captivated by the potentiality of solar energy to change the world, which gave him the idea of solar water pumping system that he later discussed as his graduation project.
Yaman was chosen as one of the best five Arab innovators under the age of 35 by MIT Technology Review. In addition to being selected as one of three Syrian candidates to represent Syria in the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP) scientific and technology development field.
Yaman is currently in the USA to continue his graduate studies after receiving a full scholarship.

Director and Country Representative of (IECD) in S

Nidal Bitar

Director and Country Representative of (IECD) in S

• 2013- present: Director and Country Representative of the Institute European for Cooperation and Development (IECD) in Syria. Managing IECD programs in Syria of 65 professional technical trainers and employees and 1.8 million USD annually. www.iecd.org.
IECD is an International development organization. It constructs environments that allow every person to reveal their talents, build a better future, and become a responsible actor in his/her country through vocational training mainly in industrial sector using international curricula, methodology and tools.
• 2011- 2013: Certified Trainer with INGOs operating in Syria and several non-governmental organizations
• 2000-2011: Trade Commissioner at the Canadian Embassy, Damascus
• 1997-2000: Economic consultant in the Syrian European Business Center, Damascus
• 1998-2000: Commercial Officer, at Swiss Embassy in Damascus
• 1997- 2010: Economic adviser to many international companies (Compaq, Career, Benetton, MG, Arrow LTD)

Researcher and PhD Candidate at Aalto University

Hani Tarabichi

Researcher and PhD Candidate at Aalto University

Researcher and PhD Candidate at Aalto University, Finland.
Research interests in business modeling, collaborative innovation, and design thinking.

Co-Founder & Senior Consultant at Venture Internat

Bassam Elrifai

Co-Founder & Senior Consultant at Venture Internat

A shrewd business consultant with remarkable marketing, branding and sales management experience acquired working in international, multi-million dollar enterprises. Specializes in product and brand lifecycle management. An expert in sales management and sales-force support, driving awesome results and outstanding customer service.
Long experience in startups, small business and micro business coaching in the region in the core domains of marketing and sales.
A strong and supportive leader of cross-functional, international teams capable of designing and developing highly effective training courses aimed at improving performance.
He has successfully trained over 1000 professionals on various business / technical management subjects; achieving a minimum 4.8/5 rating delivering entrepreneurship, Marketing, Sales and Soft skills topics.
Bassam holds an MBA in International Business from London South Bank University, UK.